Noise reducing synchronization circuit



H. E. BESTE NOISE REDUCING SYNCHRONIZATION CIRCUIT 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 8, 1954 Filed Dec. 24, 1949 June 8, 1954 H. E. BESTE 4 2,680,806

NOISE REDUCING SYNCHRONIZATION CIRCUIT Filed Deo. 24, 1949 -2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WHITE LEVE| A BLACK LEVEL- sYNc PEAK G FIRST OLIPPING LEVEL VOLTAGE AT @D THIRD 48 54 54 54 CLIPPING LEVEL SECOND OLIPPTNG LEVEL 53 VOLTAGE AT@ Gz/ VOLTAGE AT 'L 55 52 VOLTAGE AT 52 Fig' 5 INVENTOR.

HAROLD E. BESTE Patented June 8, 1954 Haroldv'E.,'BestdlVcrona, N. J., assignor to Allen B. Du Mont Laboratoriesflnc., Passaic, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Applicatidr -Deinbr 24, 1949; serial vNo'. 1321;;892'

This Ainvention relates to' systems for Ininirniz in'gl the" eiiects of interference' onelectrical Waves;V and 'more 'particularly to electronic apparatus and:v systems forl improving the per#- formance offt'elevision deection circuitsinthe 5 amplifierand'other'stages; tending' to maintain presence of noise interference. a' constant level of'outp'ut signal from the nal Und'sirable electrical impulses; commonly" reintermedia'teefrequency amplier for a wide ferred 'to'asnoise "impulses 'are'o'ften' present in range' of amplitudes' of input signals Afrom the televisionsignals; interfering with synchronizaantenna.' tion'. In the past, to minimize the effects'of im- 10 The tuned inductance I5 is coupled toa secpulse typeofnoi'seupo'ri vvdeiiectionv synchronizaond tuned inductance '2| by means of a coupling tion signals, noise peaks having greater amplicapacitor 22. 'The seco'nd'inductance 2| is contude excursions than' synchronization*signals nected to the cathodeof a video detector tube have' been clipped:y Such clipping'in' itself, how; 2 3.A The plate'of "the detector. tube 23 is directly ever, has not been' Summen@ 15 connected to the control grid of afirst clipping AnV object of thisinve'ntion is'to provide aptube 2li; Theplatefotthedetectorj tube 23 is paratus'to"eiectivelyfminimize the'eilects` ofa also connected tothe input of a video amplifier varietybf Ytypes of `noise electrical'inflpulsesin 25 by means of a series video inductor 25, shunt television signals. inductor 2l anda resistor'28`. 4, Y

Another object is to provide apparatus in 20 Theplate' 0f the llSl' Clipping'tube 24 is conwhich-the duration and polarity" of desired nected directly to aload resistor 3l, and is also synchronization-signals is utiliz-ed to minimize connected, by'means of thecoupling capacitor the disturbing effecty of random impulses not 32,' to a grid leak resistor 33 and to a series rehaving a predetermined \r/ave' 'for1n.fr sistor Skin'seriesfwith the control lgrid of a In accordance Withthe'invention, synchronize,` 25 second clipping tube 35.' Y l Y, l tion signals containing noise are subjected'to The plate ofl second clipping tube 35 .is cona variety of Wavej shapingI stages which',l innected to' a'load resistor 36' and through acoudividually and'incombinatiomminimize the displing capacitorv 3l vtoV the grid of a special purturbing characteristics of n'oise' before the syn'- pose tube 38 referred to hereinafter as the noise chroni'zation-T signals are utilized,` Vin"hf` rizoin tal 30 sui'cide'tube.` The plate 0f the noise suicide tube and vertical deflectioncircuits, to' synchronize 38""is`connected degeneratively back toits grid scanning of Yal received `television picture. by means of a' feedback capacitor 39. Connected In the drawings: alsoto 'the plate is a load'resistance' d. The

Figurev 1 is a diagram,`partly schematic"andv` gridV of thefmisesuicide ltube 38'is"connected partl'yin-blocirv form, of a television'receiveren 35 back to a'source'l of positive voltage by means bodying the invent-ion; of -a clamping resistance 42;',

Figures 2, 3, 4, and `5 show the various Jforms In'thepreferred forrn'of my inventionshown, of voltage waves of the receiver of`Figur'e 1 plotted a two terminal resistance l113' is connected in against time. series `between the source 'of positive voltage 4I,

In Figure 1 a televisionreceiver4 is shown in 40 and 'the'intermediateirequency amplier tube I4, which well-known parts,k are indicated' inblock forming ih effect 'thereby ahiehimnedance Source form. Amplication of picture signals coibipris-v of Y' positive" potential tdwhich a decoupling reing a carrier Wave modulated with both picturel sist`0r"44"`fr theintermediate-frequencyampliand synchronization'si'gnalsoccursinsignal vfrefier "and 'a vscreen dropping lresistor "df'are 'at'- quency ampliers andinterrnediateffrequncy 45 tach'ed.' -rlhis portion of the 'circuitl is described ampliers II. Alast"Stage of 'intermediate#ire' more fully in there-pending'"application 'Serial' quency ampliiic'zation1V I2, indica-'tedt bja'dott'ed Number 120,712, now Patent [Number 2,631,230, block, comprisesan input "coupling'l vcircuitIB,l of Clee"`0 Marsh; Jr.' which tunes-With inherentcircuit-'iapacitancesij The operaticr1 Qf' the circuit can" be seen by a pentode amplier 'tube I4 and `lan foutput'in-' 50 referring tothewave `forms of Figures 2 through ductance` VI5 'tuning With'ftube" and distributed 5 in'conjunctionwith 'the circuit of Figure 1, capa citance.` The :intermediat ireqieny'sgnal, modulated The outputf f the final intermediate-irequency` with Video vand''synchr oni'zatic'ri 'informationand amp'lierijIZ-i connected anautornaticmgaiii interrniiiedwith noise;4 is :implied inthe'z u'ruoli'u control detector*v I 8;"wl'iich,"withv large signals 55 fiers II andli anddee'modulate'd'in thedetec'tor 1 claim. (C1. 256427) from" the final 'intermediate-frequency' amplifier, generates negative voltage in theautomatic gain control biaslin'edg. This bias line i9 .provides negative grid bias to the intermediate-frequency tube 23, forming at the grid of the rst clipping tube 24 a combined video and synchronization signal shown in Figure 2 and identied in Figure l by the letter A. The wave of Figure 2 is a simpliiied wave, showing video signals 4.6, retrace or blanking signals 4l, horizontal synchronizing signals 48, and vertical synchronizing signals 49, it being understood that the actual wave occupies a far greater time dimension than can be readily portrayed, and that a portrayal of the eiect of the described circuit upon noise in the simplied Wave will fully and clearly illustrate the operation of the invention upon noise in the actual wave.

For illustrative purposes, noise signals 52, 53, 54 and 55 are shown disposed in various parts of the desired signal. These signals are large in comparison with the desired signals and are of short duration, these being characteristic of impulse-type noise such as are generated by ignition system, such as commonly cause disruption of television reception.

The signal A, with the synchronization signals extending in a negative direction, is fed into the grid of the iirst clipping tube 24, the cutoff voltage oi" this tube being controlled as described in the above identified co-pending application so that clipping of the large noise pulses 52, 53 and 54 occurs, a smaller noise pulse 55 remaining unclipped.

The controlling of this clipping level is accom-- plished in part by the action of automatic gain control and in part by the resistor 43. Large variations in signals received at the antenna are acted upon by the automatic gain control circuit so that only small variations of signal strength occur at the point A. Even though small, these variations are nevertheless suiiicient to cause ineiciency of clipping here unless the clipping level were made variable, automatically controlled by the size of the signal. The direct current in the intermediate-frequency amplier i4 ilows through the resistor 43 causing a drop therein proportionate to the amount of current flowing through the amplier I4. input at the antenna causes a large signal input at the automatic gain control detector which causes negative bias to be generated reducing the gain of the controlled amplifier stages in a Well known manner. of the controlled amplifiers, the current through the resistor i3 is reduced, thus raising the screen voltage of the rst clipper tube 24. Conversely a lower voltage at A is accompanied by a lower screen voltage. tube 24 is direct-coupled to the anode of the detector tube, only negative voltages occur at the grid, zero voltage being represented by the white level line. The negative cutoii of the rst clipper tube 24 under these conditions is determined by through the resistor 43, it will be obvious that any number of amplication stages to which automatic gain control is applied may be utilized to provide a voltage drop through the resistor 43. Similarly, although the screen grid of the rst clipper tube 24, is shown connected to the A large signal Y However, in reducing the gain Since the control grid of this resistor 43, it will be apparent that any positive element or anode within a tube governing its cutoff or clipping level may be utilized.

Since the signal A is essentially that producing video signals it requires amplification in a Wideband amplifier. The ampliers preceding the iirst clipper are therefore wide band. This condition is useful in the minimization of noise in the synchronization circuits, since there is no broadening of noise pulses prior to the rst noise clipping. In the plate circuit of the rst clipper tube 24, the voltage of Figure 3 appears, this voltage being identied in Figure 1 by the letter B. The load resistor 3l is made larger than a value which would accommodate the video signals, resulting in a narrow band load impedance. Of the portions of the voltage wave A which have not been removed by clipping, therefore, only lower frequency components are amplified by the first clipper tube 24. In passing through this narrow band, short duration pulses such as those shown are reduced in amplitude and broadened in time duration in proportion to the reduction of band Width. It has been found that although appreciable improvement in impulse noise rejection occurs if the bandwidth of this stage is reduced to one-half that of the video stage, approximately 2 megacycles for a 'i megacycle video signal, optimum noise reduction is obtained from a bandwidth of approximately 300 kilocycles, which is about one-thirteenth that of the video band.

rhe voltage Wave B, having the synchronization signals extending in a positive direction from the video signals, is coupled to the grid of a second clipping tube 35. The constants of this circuit are chosen so that negative clipping of the signal occurs as shown in the synchronization signal, so that portions of the wave more negative than this, including the video signal, are removed` In addition, use of the series resistor 34, which is considerably higher in impedance than the input of the second clipper tube 35, insures clipping of the positive portions of the circuit, and reduction of noise impulses which occur in this region. rEhe input circuit of the second clipper tube is therefore a double clipper, both clipping levels occurring at the level of the synchronization portions of the signals, so that both positive and negative extremities of the signal are removed.

The voltage C appearing at the plate of the second clipping tube 35 and shown by the solid line of Figure 4, results in part from the current ilowing through the tube and part from the nature of the plate load. Since the plate load is dynamic, changing with the instantaneous value of the applied Voltage, due to the action of the noise suicide tube 38, the explanation is simpliiied by the use of dotted lines 52 in this gure, representing the voltage which would occur if the load of the second clipper tube were not dynamic.

As may be seen, the dotted lines represent the signal which would result in first clipping the noise peaks in the wide band signal, then passing through a narrow band filter, then double clipping. The noise peaks 53, which occur during the video signal, have been completely eliminated with the removal of the video signal by negative clipping of the second clipping tube. Also the noise peaks 54, which occurred during the synchronizing signals, have been completely eliminated in the positive clipping of the second clipping tube in conjunction wtih the resistor 34. Thus two types of signals 53 and 54 are completely eliminated, leaving a third type 52 and 55 which type occurs during the portions of the picture which are blanked out or nearly black. The effect of this noise signal can be greatly reduced by the dynamic action of the noise suicide tube 38.

This thermionic tube 38 is biased so that it is normally conductive in the absence of incoming signals, the resistor 42 clamping the grid of this tube to zero bias. When signals are applied this clamping action causes the most positive portions of the incoming signal to be maintained at zero bias, other portions of the signal being consequently more negative. When the tube is conductive, in its normal operating condition, the normal grid-plate capacitance of the tube, supplemented by the capacitance 39, causes the effective capacitance of the input circuit to increase in proportion to the low frequency gain of the tube. In its normal operating condition, therefore, small, short, or random noise currents, flowing in the plate circuit of the second clipper tube, operate into a large capacitive load which tends to minimize voltage fluctuations, as shown by the solid lines at points 52 and 54 of this figure. When a synchronizing pulse occurs, as shown at 63 of Figure 4, a persistent negative signal is applied to the input circuit of the noise suicide tube tending to render it less conductive. As the tube becomes less conductive, the effective input capacitance diminishes, so that the major portion of the sync pulse operates into a load having low effective input capacitance. Thus it is seen that sync pulses have to overcome a certain threshold of capacitive loading, which threshold having been overcome, the load is noncapacitive permitting sharp, clean synchronizing pulses less susceptible to interlace variations in the presence of noise than pulses having a gradual slope.

Sync pulses having a polarity and amplitude suitable for the direct operation of the horizontal and vertical sweep oscillators are obtained from the plate of the noise suicide tube 38, as shown in Figure 5.

In its basic form, the noise suicide tube consists of a unilateral non-linear amplifying element having input and output circuits, a degenerative feedback path between input and output circuits, the coupling between these circuits being more degenerative to high than to low frequencies, the amplier being non-linear and biased to be in its most highly amplifying condition. Short, small and random uctuations introduced into the input circuit face a highly degenerative condition of the amplifier tending to minimize variations. Long, large, persistent pulses applied in the direction which tends to lessen the amplification of the amplifier, overcome a threshold condition wherein the degenerative condition lessens, so that latter portions of the desired pulse are stretched and sharpened.

1t has been shown that in accordance with my invention a variety of noise-reducing steps are applied successively and in combination to synf chronization signals. For the purpose of description of a particular stage of noise reduction, preceding stages can be considered to be a source of synchronizing signals, and successive stages can be considered to be a utilization circuit for synchronization signals.

Although specific embodiments have been shown and described, the scope of the invention is defined in the following claim.

What is claimed is:

A device for minimizing undesired signals in the presence of desired unidirectional signals, comprising a thermionic tube having a cathode, a grid, and a plate, a source of positive Voltage connected to said grid through resistance, an input circuit connected between said grid and said cathode so that said desired signals are applied negatively tosaid grid, a resistance and a source of positive potential connected in series between said cathode and said plate, and a capacitance connected directly :between said grid and said plate degeneratively coupling said plate to said grid at frequencies higher than the fundamental frequency of said desired signals.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,443,011 De Bellescize Jan. 23, 1923 1,681,788 Ruckel Aug. 21, 1928 1,992,044 Saxton Feb. 19, 1935 2,105,538 Landon Jan. 18, 1938 2,151,778 Landon Mar. 28, 1939 2,208,422 Hugon July 16, 1940 2,231,792 Bingley Feb. 11, 1941 2,240,420 Schnitzer Apr. 29, 1941 2,241,553 Kallmann May 13, 1941 2,269,001 Blumlein Jan. 6, 1942 2,286,450 White et al June 16, 1942 2,294,341 Moore Aug. 25, 1942 2,304,713 Smith Dec. 8, 1942 2,323,598 Hathaway July 6, 1943 2,332,681 Wendt Oct. 26, 1943 2,356,141 Applegarth Aug. 22, 1944 2,363,813 Somers Nov. 28, 1944 2,476,523 Wright July 19, 1949 2,616,964 Cohen Nov. 4, 1952 2,632,049 Druz Mar. 17, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 366,096 Italy Dec. 13, 1938 

